


The Superhero's Wife

by Margaret Ann (Manderson)



Category: The Incredibles (2004)
Genre: AO3 FB Challenge, Arguing, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rare Fandoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 08:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15139511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manderson/pseuds/Margaret%20Ann
Summary: Following Syndrome's attack on Metroville, Lucius makes his way back home to Honey, who may be an even more dangerous opponent--he did miss their dinner, after all.Part of the AO3 FB Challenge for July, 2018.Roulette: Gen, Raredom, Hurt/Comfort





	The Superhero's Wife

“Would you just sit still?”

“Woman, that stuff stings worse than Waspnado’s talons. You try sittin’ still when it feels like someone’s jabbing half a dozen hot pokers into your skin!”

“Did you just call me ‘woman’?”

“Sorry, Honey. You could ease up a bit on that stuff, though.”

“I wouldn’t _have_ to ease up on it if you’d stop all that fidgeting. I can’t hardly get the cotton ball close to the scratch the way you’re jumping around. You’d think I was trying to kill you or something, like one of your ‘bad guys.’”

“Ouch! Geez, what do they make that stuff out of? Liquid fire?”

“Lucius, for a so-called ‘super,’ you’re certainly the most whiny man I’ve ever known.”

“Honey!”

“What?”

“What’ve I told you ‘bout using my real name when I’m in my suit?”

“You aren’t even wearing your suit!”

“Ow! I’ve got my mask on, and that’s part of my suit, so I’m in my suit, so don’t use my name!”

“Yeah, but that’s all you’re in.”

“Honey…”

“Fine, fine. _Frozone_ is acting like a wimp right now.”

“Not better.”

“Well, what do you want from me? I get all dressed up. I—”

“Not so hard with those tweezers, wo— _Honey_.”

“—Spend all day at the salon getting my hair done, getting my nails done, making sure my dress is dry cleaned and your pants were ironed with that crease you like and your shoes were all glossy-polished, all because we were going out to dinner.”

“I know.”

“And not just _any_ dinner, right, _Frozone_? An important dinner. One of the most important we were ever going to have after our wedding reception. One we’ve been planning for two months.”

“I know.”

“Remember how long it took me to get that reservation? I would’ve been fine with Dominic’s, but you said, ‘Oh, Honey, we always go to Dominic’s for our anniversary! This is something even more important! We should go somewhere new and make a new tradition!’ So I sat on the phone for over an hour on hold while the maitre’d at Chez Michel filed his nails and drank a glass of wine and probably built a house out of matchbooks before he slowly flipped through his little black book to tell me when they’d finally have a free table.”

“I—ow!—know.”

“And when was that reservation? Hmm?”

“Tonight, Honey.”

“Tonight. This evening. _Four hours ago_.”

“I know. I’m sorry. How many times I gotta apologize to you?”

“Lucius, this isn’t about apologies and you know it!”

“Don’t use—”

“Don’t you even dare test me right now, Lucius Sidney Best. I’ll use whatever name of yours I please, and you’ll sit back down there and like it. Now, I put up with a lot from you over the years. I listened to all your half-baked apologies for being late to or even missing our dates—”

“You knew what you were getting into.”

“Not back then I didn’t! I was seventeen, thinking the best man who’d come around to my daddy at church asking to take me out couldn’t be trusted to keep a simple promise.”

“And I’ve had trouble with your father ever since.”

“Can you blame him? Really?”

“No.”

“Even after he found out you were a super, he sat me down and he told me, ‘Honey, I know you have feelings for that boy, but I don’t know that it’ll be good for you to keep on seeing him.’ And you know what I did?”

“You stuck up for me.”

“I stuck up for you. I told my daddy that I loved you and I was going to go right on and keep seeing you whenever you asked. You’re my soulmate, I told him. And he just shook his head and gave me those sad puppy-eyes like he knew something I didn’t, and now, tonight, with you coming back late _again_ from doing superhero stuff _again_ , I’m wondering if maybe he wasn’t right.”

“Honey, no—”

“Don’t you think I don’t know about it? All my girlfriends, when they ask, ‘Hey, Honey, how’re you and that tall drink of a man doin’?’ I just sit there and make up a story. ‘Oh, yeah, we’re good. He’s still doing that bowling of his with his buddies.’ And they all laugh, talking about how we women got to let our men out on their leashes every once in awhile or else they’d just be taking up space in the house.”

“Honey—”

“And then, today, sitting there in the salon, we all got to talking, and I told them you were taking me out to Chez Michel for ‘one last night of fun.’ That’s what I was telling them today. And they all just shook their heads and said, ‘Chez Michel? Mmm, girl, you sure got some luck there with that man of yours.’ And I agreed. But...but when I see them next and they ask what we ate and what we talked about and everything, I’m going to...to…”

“Oh, Honey…”

“Lucius, you think I don’t know that you’re not actually bowling? That you sit around on your police scanner with Bob and reminisce about some ‘good old days’? Want to know why you couldn’t find your suit earlier? Well?”

“Why couldn’t I find my suit earlier?”

“Because I hid it! I hid that stupid old suit because I knew that every second it stuck around you’d be tempted to choose it over me!”

“Honey. Honey, I wouldn’t choose it over you.”

“Don’t you dare say those lies to me, Lucius. Don’t you dare give me that nonsense. You’re always going to choose being a super over being my husband. As long as you have that suit, it’s just proof of what my daddy told me.”

“Honey, it isn’t like that. Shh, here. Lemme take off my mask real quick. There we go. Okay, Honey, c’mere. Sit down on the bed. All this cryin’ isn’t good right now. Blow your nose, baby. Shh. Now, listen to me for a moment, will ya? Listen to your Lucius. You listenin'?"

"I'm listening."

"Look, people like me, supers, we got these powers to protect people, especially the people who matter most to us. Today, my friends needed me to help them protect this entire city. You know I wanted to go to dinner with you, and I would’ve in a heartbeat if I could’ve. But when I saw that monster rollin’ down the street, all I could think of was that I had to stop it or people’d be gettin’ hurt. Honey, look at me for a second. Honey, I had to stop it so _you_ wouldn’t get hurt. You and little Leroy or Kimberly—I know, those names aren’t final—y’all’re my world. If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“But you missed our special dinner…”

“Don’t you know there’s gonna be a thousand more special dinners? Maybe not all Chez Michel, but I’ll find us a new place. We still got a few weeks. I’ll pull some strings somewhere. I know a few people. We’ll get our dinner in.”

“And what about this super business? I’m going to be going to the hospital, all huffing and puffing and in labor, and you’re gonna get a call from Bob and just run out and leave me there?”

“Take another tissue, baby. And no, this thing? This thing is all about us, you and me and that little one of ours.”

“Then throw away that supersuit and stay with us.”

“Honey, I just told you why I can’t do that. I gotta protect you. It’s not even a ‘want.’ It’s a _need_.”

“And I _need_ you around. We both do.”

“I know. I know…”

“You...you promise you’ll be careful?”

“I always am, Honey.”

“And one of those bad guys comes after you?”

“I freeze ‘em and go off the other way.”

“And you come back home to us.”

“I won’t stop ‘til I do. Hey, baby, where’s that smile? C’mon. Who’s the cat who’s always chill? Frozone. When survival odds are close to nil…”

“...Frozone.”

“Frozone!”

“I always did hate those lyrics.”

“But you always did love me.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”


End file.
